Voting-machine key.



Patented Jan. 2, 1912.

Fig.7

WITNESSES:

A TTORA/EV COLUMBIA FLANOGRAPH :0. WASHINGTO n, c,

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES C. ABBOTT, OF PITTSFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO TRIUMPH VOTING MACHINE COMPANY, OF PITTSFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

VOTING-MACHINE KEY.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES C. ABBOTT, a citizen .of the United States, residing at Pittsfield, county of Berkshire, State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement in Voting-Machine Keys, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to voting machines and is equally applicable to all classes of machines in which the individual voting operation is effected by oscillation of a voting member or shaft which is provided with a key or lever for convenience in operation, and the invention has for its object to provide a key of this character which shall be neat and attractive in appearance, convenient to operate, inexpensive to produce and easy to attach and the configuration of which shall be such that rubber bands cannot be attached thereto, thus making it rubber-band proof.

It is of course well understood by those familiar with the practical side of the art in voting machines that one of the most common means of beating the machine and one of the easiest to carry out is to surreptitiously slip a rubber band or rubber bands over two adjacent voting keys or levers which need not necessarily be next to each other. By the unprincipled and dexterous use of rubber bands it is possible to completely destroy the integrity of an election.

This weak point in voting machines as heretofore constructed I wholly overcome by providing voting machine keys or levers which shall be widest at the base and shall taper outward in such a way that a rubber band must necessarily slip off from the keys in any possible position in which either key can be placed.

ith this and other ends in view I have devised the novel voting machine key which Specification of Letters Patent.

Serial No. 640,012.

carriers to which the ballot holders are riveted or otherwise rigidly secured, 12 a filling-in strip between the ballot holders and which is riveted or otherwise rigidly se cured to one of the ballot holder carriers, 13 a voting member shaft and 14 my novel voting lever or key. The voting member shafts pass through holes or recesses 15 in the filling-in strips and are provided with angular ends which pass through correspondingly shaped holes in the bases of the keys and are headed down as at 16, thus locking the keys rigidly to the shafts. The essential features of the keys are a rounded inwardly tapering base indicated by 17, and a rounded finger piece indicated by 18. The base lies contiguous to the filling-in strip, is rounded in configuration and its edge is an inward bevel from the underside to the top, as at 19. The special shape or con- Patented Jan. '2, 1912.

figuration of the base is wholly unimportant so long as there are no projecting portions which could act in any position of two keys to retain a rubber band thereon. The shape of the base shown in the drawing somewhat resembles an elongated oval but might be greatly changed without departing from the principle of the invention so long as projecting portions were avoided. The shape of the finger piece likewise is immaterial so far as the principle of the invention is concerned. I have shown the entire key as formed integral, that is either cast or formed from a single piece of sheet metal. The finger piece is shown as lying at approximately a right angle to the base, its tip or outer end as rounded and its sides as inclines running out at the base.

It will be readily understood from Fig. l, which shows the normal position of voting keys in full lines and the voting position in dotted lines, that there is no position in which two keys can be placed that will permit a rubber band to remain thereon. It is obvious that if two keys are in the normal position, a rubber band cannot be attached. From the dotted position of the keys it is likewise obvious that a rubber band could not be attached, and should attempt be made to connect three keys by any kind of twisting of the band, it is obvious that if connected to one key it would necessarily slip from the other so that no possible result of any kind could be effected by means of rubber bands in connection with the voting keys.

Having thus described my invention I claim:

l. A key for voting machines comprising an inwardly beveled base provided with a finger piece having inclined sides, said base and finger piece being constructed to prevent connection with contiguous keys by means of loops of any character and irrespective of the position of the key.

2. A key for voting machines comprising an inwardly beveled base provided with a finger piece having inclined sides, said. base and finger piece being constructed to prevent connection with contiguous keys by means of loops of any character and irrespective of the position of the key, said finger piece being arranged at an angle with relation to said base.

3. A key for voting machines comprising an inwardly beveled base provided with a finger piece rounded at the top and having inclined sides, said base and finger piece being constructed to prevent connection with contiguous keys by means of loops of any character and irrespective of the position of the key.

4. A key for voting machines comprising an inwardly beveled base provided with a finger piece having inclined sides, said base and finger piece being constructed to pre-- vent connection with contiguous keys by means of loops of any character and irrespective of the position of the key, said finger piece extending from one edge of said base and being arranged at an angle with relation to the latter.

5. A key for voting machines comprising an inwardly beveled base provided with a rounded finger piece the sides of which taper from base to tip, said base and finger piece being constructed to prevent connection with contiguous keys by means of loops of any character and irrespective of the position of the key.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

CHARLES C. ABBOTT.

Witnesses FRANCES R. DOWNS, LESTER SI-IEPARDSON.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C. 

